HomePod Updates Will Be Installed Over-the-Air Using the Home App

[kennyab]

Trend - not for home devices, mostly for portable crap speakers. this is intend to be a home device. Home devices are mostly if not exclusively stereo.

Second paragraph is not technical enough for any meaningful discussion sorry...

And it's not irrelevant. There's a limit to what DSP can do, and if two signals (in L/R) cancel each other out you either have to omit information on one channel (which brings a whole nother bag of issues) or you have to sum both channels so they can both come out from one speaker (it has only one mid/woofer).

So mono compatibility indeed is an issue and very relevant.

Sonos has, and will continue to have, a much larger market share than Apple, and I'd imagine that the majority of them are not set up in a stereo configuration. The new high-end Google smart speaker is a mono device by default. Neither the Google Home Max nor Sonos are portable devices. And then there's Bose, B&W, naim, etc, all of whom have popular single-enclosure bluetooth audio solutions. Apple is not responsible for this trend. As many others have pointed out, Amazon and Google are much more responsible for shaping the form of the current smart speaker, which is an assistant and driver array in a single enclosure. Apple is following the established pattern of a single device, although with a much different implementation of sound creation. But the popularity of a single bluetooth speaker, sometimes in devices much higher-end than the HomePod, is very firmly established.

As for how it's doing signal processing, sadly that is a big question mark right now. Early reviews seem to indicate, though, that a single HomePod is capable of producing a nice soundstage and separation. If the released product lives up to those expectations (just over a week to find out, yay), I imagine it would have to be inspecting the left and right channels at least semi-independently in order to place the vocals and instruments in space. If that turns out to be the case, then traditional mono mixing doesn't really apply in this case. But I'm very willing to admit that this is a big black box, no one outside of Apple knows exactly what processing it's doing, and we'll have to wait to hear it to try to begin sussing out how it may be working.

 

[ke-iron]

Actually, I didn't consider or even imagine the cable to be the back. I actually imagined that the "back" is dynamically assigned based on position and proximity to walls. So, any three of the 7 speaker array could be the back. The other four would be the front, with left and right channels being emitted from every other speaker from the four. If the speaker is in the center of a room then it would adapt, considering that there's no closest wall for it to bounce sound off like demonstrated in the HomePod promotional materials.

Though, I'm genuinely curious, why does it seem more probable to you that they are using software or hardware to mix left and right channels in each speaker, instead of just outputting left in one speaker, right in the next, alternatingly?

Circuitry-wise that's relatively easy to implement. One need only wire multiple speakers to the left output, and another set to the right output, and then place the left and right in-between one another. I could do it using a headphone jack and spliced wires. I'm pretty sure Apple can do that more cheaply than it would cost to code software downmixing, or produce a downmixing hardware solution.

I never said they were using hardware or software to mix left or right channels. They're using hardware and software to actively adjust the volume levels of all the speakers. I believe the same sound is played through all speakers all the time, but at different level volume. I’ve been saying all along the HomePod does not play music stereo, this corroborate with what Apple also said.

 

[sidewinder3000]

Again, i will go slowly:
Homepod is not a high-end speaker system but a home appliance. It's a modern equivalent of a boombox.
It's going to be widespread (more than high-end speaker systems), and most people will not buy it in stereo configuration because they don't know / don't care, meaning music mixing will again have to be crosschecked for mono compatibility, which is something I was hoping it's going to disappear with small devices such as iphone going stereo as well.

Why are you lecturing me on whether HP is a “high end speaker system”? I didn’t write anything like that in the post you are replying to. Get your act together.

Also, who TF are you to say what a “high-end” speaker system is anyway? You seem to be really pedantic about something that is absolutely relative and purely a matter of economic perspective. If you are an obnoxiously rich guy who thinks $349 is chump change for a single speaker then... go away. If you’re not, then why the snobbery? Relative to what 95% of America has in their homes, the $349 HomePod is definitely a step up in price and sound. Also, it’s not meant to be only a single speaker. The entire idea is that some people will have 2, 3, 5 or more throughout their homes, making it a $700, $1050, $1750 investment. Yes, B&W and B&O make speaker systems that cost 10 times as much. I own some of their gear and have had it for years. It’s good stuff. But none of it is perfect. And they are always trying new approaches. That’s what Apple is doing here, with the goal to bring new levels of sound sophistication, typically the domain of much higher end speaker systems, to the masses at prices that are higher than they are used to paying, but lower than pure premium hifi. It’s what Apple often does.

Call it the high end of the middle or the low end of the high. But don’t be a snob and act like the powerful, advanced audio tech Apple has crammed into a $349 speaker isn’t a serious piece of kit that will elevate the listening experience of millions of people and worry the hell out of high-end audio companies who are trying to market to the upper middle class themselves.

 

[dannys1]

I will let them buy it, be sure of that. There's evidently so many "early adopters" who buy anything Apple spits out, regardless of the price. That's inherent consumerism. My problem with over expensive products. And sheep.
While I'm sure that in a couple of weeks this place is going to get filled with "I'm so happy with my HP, best smartspeaker ever" threads and posts, it's their first product in years that most people are justifiably sceptic about, not only in terms of price, but also in terms of service limitations and performance.

Apple Watch is great I'm sure, but it's expensive. Airpods are great too, but very expensive as well for what they do.
I'm sick of Apple ripping consumers a new one every time they put a "novel" product out, because they tend to wanna drive the market.
At least with the X and HomePod it does not seem so, and it should make them reconsider some things, that's all I said.

It's not even expensive though. £320 is not expensive for a speaker unless you've been used to shopping for sub par garbage your entire life. The best Sonos is £500 and it's rubbish. You're looking at £300-£500 per speaker (and you NEED two) for a half decent hi-fi setup and then you've got to buy an amp as well (and a half decent one will cost more than £320). Most of my headphones cost more than £320!

The HomePod might sound rubbish, but the fact that the market is flooded with utter junk at sub £150 prices does not mean it's over priced.
[doublepost=1517424096][/doublepost]

It's apple's fault because they drive the industry, and after mono compatibility has been a completely non issue for a while and even their phone and tablets switched to stereo, Mono compatibility is again a stupid thing you need to worry about.

I'm wanging on about stereo because it's a different approach to mixing/mastering if you need to carry about mono compatibility, not because of how HP sounds. I don't care how it sounds, its a technical trend thing.

It's not going to work pure mono though like a traditional mono speaker, it's going to use its 7 tweeters to do a psuedo spatial stereo, so there's no need to worry about things disappearing in mono, this issue is not coming back, you'll hear everything albeit in a simulated stereo field.

 

[Ploki]

As for how it's doing signal processing, sadly that is a big question mark right now. Early reviews seem to indicate, though, that a single HomePod is capable of producing a nice soundstage and separation. If the released product lives up to those expectations (just over a week to find out, yay), I imagine it would have to be inspecting the left and right channels at least semi-independently in order to place the vocals and instruments in space. If that turns out to be the case, then traditional mono mixing doesn't really apply in this case. But I'm very willing to admit that this is a big black box, no one outside of Apple knows exactly what processing it's doing, and we'll have to wait to hear it to try to begin sussing out how it may be working.

Yes, I've read that it is able to detect walls and whatnot - definitely some smart stuff going on in there, not denying that at all. But something can be better taken care of in the creation process.

Why are you lecturing me on whether HP is a “high end speaker system”? I didn’t write anything like that in the post you are replying to. Get your act together.


Call it the high end of the middle or the low end of the high. But don’t be a snob and act like the powerful, advanced audio tech Apple has crammed into a $349 speaker isn’t a serious piece of kit that will elevate the listening experience of millions of people and worry the hell out of high-end audio companies who are trying to market to the upper middle class themselves.

I'm merely arguing stereo versus mono, why are you so aggressive?
It will elevate listening experience but set recording practice ages back if they don't somehow reflect this new approach to the content creation level.
As in, new technologies in video also reflected in content creation for them (in a technical manner at least). To put it simple: there's a different approach to creating a 3D movie then it is to create a normal 2D one from a technical (not from a storytelling) perspective.

Or, just like they released an AR device coupled with AR creation software.

It's not going to work pure mono though like a traditional mono speaker, it's going to use its 7 tweeters to do a psuedo spatial stereo, so there's no need to worry about things disappearing in mono, this issue is not coming back, you'll hear everything albeit in a simulated stereo field.

Seems like its able to do this only via tweeters, meaning there's still a lot of stereo content thats going to *have* to be merged taken over by the main driver.
Seems inefficient to use stereo sources. Why no support for Homepod exclusive formats? It's not like its that hard to master a track for different mediums, every albums that gets released today gets a different treatment depending on the platform and/or physical medium.

 

[kennyab]

Seems inefficient to use stereo sources. Why no support for Homepod exclusive formats? It's not like its that hard to master a track for different mediums, every albums that gets released today gets a different treatment depending on the platform and/or physical medium.

But this seems to be part of the point behind the smarts of the HomePod -- it's impossible to master for every situation and different environment in which users may put speakers, so the HomePod in effect does a real-time re-master for a particular environment. That's kind of its whole value proposition.

If this type of technology takes off, what I think we'd start seeing is a whole different type of mastering, where each track is a particular component, such as vocals or guitars, or whatever, and they're tagged with positional information on where they belong within the soundstage. Kind of an AudioGL. So instead of having a device like the HomePod having to try to pick that information out itself, it's already specified in the file. Then the device scans the room and does the math necessary to translate the normalized positional info in the file into an actual position in space.

 

[vipergts2207]

Maybe my wording wasn't quite clear; I meant to reference a home theater system, laid out for 5.1 or 7.1 surround, when it is fed with standard 2-channel-audio instead of actual 5.1 or 7.1 audio. In that case, the 2 channels are distributed to the speakers on either side, with the center speaker getting a mix of both. Am I wrong?

Correct, in a 5.1 or 7.1 system the center channel will get a mix of both left and right. But the HomePod with its 7 speakers isn’t designed like that. It’s designed to play music. Most music is recorded in stereo.

That’s not necessarily true. If a surround sound receiver is fed 2-channel audio you can choose how it processes it, just like any other audio feed it may receive. Mine has multiple options including: feeding stereo as is to the left and right fronts, simulated surround where some of the L/R audio is fed to the center, and several others. Personally for 2-channel audio, I process as basic stereo for music and do simulated surround for video content.

 

[ke-iron]

That’s not necessarily true. If a surround sound receiver is fed 2-channel audio you can choose how it processes it, just like any other audio feed it may receive. Mine has multiple options including: feeding stereo as is to the left and right fronts, simulated surround where some of the L/R audio is fed to the center, and several others. Personally for 2-channel audio, I process as basic stereo for music and do simulated surround for video content.

Yes yes I forgot you can cycle through a crap load of modes. I haven’t played music through a surround sound system in years, since I started buying wireless audio systems from B&W.
[doublepost=1517439918][/doublepost]While t3.com spoke highly of how great the HomePod sounded in their preview, they had the following to say about the sound coming from the unit.

“As with most one-box wireless speakers, HomePod either is mono or, at least, it certainly sounds it. There was no stereo separation to speak of. However as with Sonos, Bose and certain other Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speakers, you can splash out and pair two HomePods so they work as a true stereo pair.”

 

[wesleypitts]

Do other folks hate the "Home" app as much as I do?

It's just really poorly designed in my opinion. My dislike starts with the silly stock background "wallpaper" images, but really gets up to speed with the organization of Accessories and Scenes. For example, the way the Scenes section is comprised of oblong buttons that don't fit on the screen, so you have to slide through them left and right to find the one you're looking for. Yes you can reorder them but that doesn't address the primary fail of requiring an additional gesture to scroll through them. Up-and-down is enough scrolling, I don't need side-to-side, too.

The app is just weird and needs a complete overhaul from a UI standpoint, IMO. Does not have the level of thoughtfulness and polish that is typical of Apple.

 

[prasand]

I never said they were using hardware or software to mix left or right channels. They're using hardware and software to actively adjust the volume levels of all the speakers. I believe the same sound is played through all speakers all the time, but at different level volume. I’ve been saying all along the HomePod does not play music stereo, this corroborate with what Apple also said.

Hardware wise, it's not any simpler to play all sounds through all speakers, than it is to play the left channel through one speaker and the right channel through another. Programmatically, iOS can already adjust its output based on the speaker connection. This is evidenced by the ability to output through previous iPhones with one speaker, or dual channels via the earpiece speaker & bottom speaker iPhones, headphone jack, bluetooth, and so on. HomePod's software is the same as an iPhone's so the ability to play all sounds through one speaker, or maintaining channel separation depending on the number of speakers is already there.

Therefore, it solely comes down to logic board design, and with printed circuits it's no more difficult to create a stereo logic board than it is to create a one speaker logic board. The fact that they have to create a multiple speaker logic board with relays for the ability to adapt, I find it unlikely that they would do that using a one channel design. With printed circuits, there's no benefit or justification to doing it the way you are imagining. People aren't etching a HomePod logic board using an X-Acto knife.

However, I still believe what you're saying is possible @ stereo, just saying that them doing it in stereo is no more complex than not doing it, and there's no benefit to outputting both channels through one speaker, when the sweet spot can be removed without them doing that. EQ trickery can still be applied to separated channels. And their marketing media referring to stereo is geared towards the masses, not audiophiles (because this isn't an audiophile product), and could instead be addressing what most people perceive to be stereo. With an alternating speaker design, the average person wouldn't hear distinct channels, or have a sweet spot, so as far as the average person is concerned that's not stereo. So if they want stereo separation they could get two HomePods and they will balance each other.

There is nothing either software based, nor hardware based, in design logic that supports your conclusion. It ultimately comes down to the perception of their marketing. You're taking it at face value, which I understand and respect. And I still believe you could be accurate @ stereo. But your imagination of their implementation due to the literal interpretation is a bit of a stretch. There's no physical, software, or financial justification for your conclusions. It all comes down to essentially, "well they said stereo can be done with two HomePods, so I assumed / imagined a non-stereo situation." Which isn't more valid than another person imagining them to mean stereo separation, but that they simplified the wording for the average user.

Ultimately, either perception could be correct, and personally, I think both are possible.

 

[Tech198]

I don’t think it’s as vague as you think, and yes it’s my assumption based on Apple themselves saying you need 2 HomePods for stereo playback and Something else I thought up on my own just from looking at the design of the HomePod.

The solution would be, (and Apple will realize this down the road) would be stereo Homepod. That way, u only need 1.


The iPad started of with mono sound as well, till the iPad Pro proved otherwise it could be done,, then Apple updated the other


The same will happen here as well... Maybe by version 2 of the Homepod. I always user need to buy two speakers for stereo sounds a bit nark...

Computer speakers at least you get a pair of them.. so that's different. Start cheap-ly,, the add fetues.. Now that is Apple's game

 

[PickUrPoison]

The solution would be, (and Apple will realize this down the road) would be stereo Homepod. That way, u only need 1.


<snip>

Apple is already doing this. Portions of the stereo program material are fed to various drivers in the HomePod’s circular array to create spatial imaging beyond what is possible with a single conventional speaker being fed an L+R (mono) signal.

 

[CjonesHouston]

We won’t know. Until we know. I’ve enjoyed Sonos dumb speakers. I’m looking forward to Home Pod Smart Speakers. I own Google Home and Alexa. Sonos wasn’t worth the price for being a dumb speaker. I’m giving Apple a try. At a high price. Stereo array or not. We won’t know until we know.

 

[sidewinder3000]

I'm merely arguing stereo versus mono, why are you so aggressive?
It will elevate listening experience but set recording practice ages back if they don't somehow reflect this new approach to the content creation level.
As in, new technologies in video also reflected in content creation for them (in a technical manner at least). To put it simple: there's a different approach to creating a 3D movie then it is to create a normal 2D one from a technical (not from a storytelling) perspective.

Or, just like they released an AR device coupled with AR creation software.

I think it was the pedantic tone of “again, I’ll go slowly” that ruffled my feathers a bit.

I guess I’m not sure why you originally wrote, “wow, stereo has become an additional purchase feature. way to go apple, sending us back to 1920s.” Apple isn’t the only one selling single speaker systems. From my understanding none of them are stereo without two speakers. And Apple certainly aren’t taking us back to the mono days. HomePod will have a decent simulated stereo effect, which is nice. Im sure it will sound as good and rich and open as a single speaker unit can sound.

Your idea of having record companies engineer and master based on the devices is interesting. I’m guessing Apple would love that. But I’m also sure that they’ve engineered HomePod to split up the right/left channels between their different tweeters and beamform them in different directions and off walls etc. to create a pretty convincing simulated stereo effect based on current mastering standards. So it may not be necessary to customize the way stuff is mastered.

Of course, they did do a whole series of albums that were “Mastered for iTunes”, so it’s not hard to imagine them getting certain popular artists to allow their engineers to create “Mastered for HomePod” versions that would really take advantage of what the speakers do, so that a single one still creates a,aging separation. Two speakers would undoubtedly be next level stereo sound.

 

[dannys1]

Seems like its able to do this only via tweeters, meaning there's still a lot of stereo content thats going to *have* to be merged taken over by the main driver.
Seems inefficient to use stereo sources. Why no support for Homepod exclusive formats? It's not like its that hard to master a track for different mediums, every albums that gets released today gets a different treatment depending on the platform and/or physical medium.

I'm not saying it's going to sound good, or wide, or on par with proper stereo - i'm just making the point you don't have to worry about mono compatibility as you were concerned with. You'll hear everything on the speaker.

I'm getting one from an audio engineers point of view to see what it sounds like and how beam forming works - i've never heard a speaker with beam forming on before so we'll see.

 

[Ploki]

I think it was the pedantic tone of “again, I’ll go slowly” that ruffled my feathers a bit.

I guess I’m not sure why you originally wrote, “wow, stereo has become an additional purchase feature. way to go apple, sending us back to 1920s.” Apple isn’t the only one selling single speaker systems. From my understanding none of them are stereo without two speakers. And Apple certainly aren’t taking us back to the mono days. HomePod will have a decent simulated stereo effect, which is nice. Im sure it will sound as good and rich and open as a single speaker unit can sound.

Your idea of having record companies engineer and master based on the devices is interesting. I’m guessing Apple would love that. But I’m also sure that they’ve engineered HomePod to split up the right/left channels between their different tweeters and beamform them in different directions and off walls etc. to create a pretty convincing simulated stereo effect based on current mastering standards. So it may not be necessary to customize the way stuff is mastered.

Of course, they did do a whole series of albums that were “Mastered for iTunes”, so it’s not hard to imagine them getting certain popular artists to allow their engineers to create “Mastered for HomePod” versions that would really take advantage of what the speakers do, so that a single one still creates a,aging separation. Two speakers would undoubtedly be next level stereo sound.

Well there was a whole 70-80s movement of hifi and boombox era where you predominantly you were only able to buy stereo sets. Apple kinda drives the industry and are one of the largest music distributors on the planet. If they release a device that's intended to be mono, it sends a message (just like HP jack).

Faking stereo is just like the "surround" sound bars which use reflection to simulate rear speakers. Neat, but not close to a real thing.
Also, trying to mixdown a surround mix to "stereo" just by summing never works well. Stereo > Mono works mildly better, but its still problematic.

You'll hear everything on the speaker.

I'm getting one from an audio engineers point of view to see what it sounds like and how beam forming works - i've never heard a speaker with beam forming on before so we'll see.

Unfortunately I don't see how this can be true. i.e. You have stereo information that delves into negative phase correlation, and its below a certain frequency point (7tweeters will only drive what, 2khz and up at most?). Everything below has to either be Summed to a single channel (for that one mid/woofer on top) or have one channel discarded.
If you have negative correlation stereo field (which sometimes happens with very wide masters), the summing will in effect make said stereo information *less loud*. ( a similar technique is used when extracting vocals from full mixes)

But this seems to be part of the point behind the smarts of the HomePod -- it's impossible to master for every situation and different environment in which users may put speakers, so the HomePod in effect does a real-time re-master for a particular environment. That's kind of its whole value proposition.

If this type of technology takes off, what I think we'd start seeing is a whole different type of mastering, where each track is a particular component, such as vocals or guitars, or whatever, and they're tagged with positional information on where they belong within the soundstage. Kind of an AudioGL. So instead of having a device like the HomePod having to try to pick that information out itself, it's already specified in the file. Then the device scans the room and does the math necessary to translate the normalized positional info in the file into an actual position in space.

This is interesting and a good idea tbh - and in my opinion would be a real leap in tech in how music is distributed and perceived.
Music industry is a though nut to crack tho, and the question is how to (and who) can create a monitoring environment to create such standards.

 

[ChrisCW11]

So, is HomePod actually "internet" connected or is it a slave device? Sounds like most of what it does needs an iPhone.

 

[chucker23n1]

So, is HomePod actually "internet" connected or is it a slave device? Sounds like most of what it does needs an iPhone.

It only needs an iPhone for initial setup, or access to local data.

 

[prasand]

The solution would be, (and Apple will realize this down the road) would be stereo Homepod. That way, u only need 1.

The iPad started of with mono sound as well, till the iPad Pro proved otherwise it could be done,, then Apple updated the other

In the situation with the iPad there were two factors against doing stereo initially. The first was space, and second was cost. Producing a dual speaker config in such a tight form factor is more costly than a single small speaker, and fitting dual speakers would have drawbacks such as a smaller battery. So not only would there be a unique stereo speaker design (due to form-factor), which would increase manufacturing complexity (thus cost, on a product they had no prior sales numbers to justify), it would have impacted battery capacity (click here to see the internals). As time passed, design refinement, and smaller components afforded them the ability to fit more inside without impacting battery capacity. Additionally, prior sales validated any innovation expense required to capitalize on space. Or more precisely, it justified another size and they conceived the iPad Mini. Where they were forced to make the speakers smaller, and that new speaker design allowed them to fit two speakers in the mini (the iPad mini was the first iOS device with stereo sound, click here to see the speaker innovation, to compare to the original iPad internals linked before).

Space was always the issue in the case of their mono situations. For the iPhone, instead of putting two speakers on the bottom, or on both ends, they repurposed the space of the earpiece. It was a deliberate effort to try and fit within space constraints, and took more engineering to utilize the earpiece as a speaker, than it would've to just include a second speaker, but they just didn't have the space for a second speaker, so instead they innovated.

With the HomePod, looking at its design and the way speakers are spaced, the constraints of the iPad / iPhone situation aren't evident. And there is no financial nor space difference in this situation, between a mono speaker and one channel of a stereo speaker. With the HomePod there's more than enough speakers to do stereo. So I think that in this situation, they prioritized removing the sweet spot in their effort to create an immersive audio experience. If so, then the absence of stereo separation is deliberate and wouldn't change as HomePod revisions are released (unless they eventually do not mind the sweet spot that stereo separation inherently creates).

 

[dannys1]

Unfortunately I don't see how this can be true. i.e. You have stereo information that delves into negative phase correlation, and its below a certain frequency point (7tweeters will only drive what, 2khz and up at most?). Everything below has to either be Summed to a single channel (for that one mid/woofer on top) or have one channel discarded.
If you have negative correlation stereo field (which sometimes happens with very wide masters), the summing will in effect make said stereo information *less loud*. ( a similar technique is used when extracting vocals from full mixes)

Well i'll have mine this time next week and i'll test it for you and confirm. I'll generate some stereo testing sources and see what it does with it. I'll create some out of phase stuff as well - although as a good test there is an Alicia Keys track with a complete out of phase Rhodes piano part that disappears in mono, so i'll report back with what it does on that.
[doublepost=1517572650][/doublepost]

With the HomePod there's more than enough speakers to do stereo

Those not true though, as @Ploki mentions above - there's only one woofer - so it's not going to accurate recreate anything under whatever the lowest frequency of the tweeter is.

What I expect will happen is it'll take a stereo signal, use a mono mixer internally so as not to lose left and right details that could be out of phrase and then split the upper frequencies amoungst the tweeters to get a "stereo-esque" sound - it'll be wide and room filling, but of course with only one woofer you're not going to be able to ever get the true stereo width and accuracy you get from having two hifi speakers space a couple of meters apart, it's impossible.

 

[Ploki]

Well i'll have mine this time next week and i'll test it for you and confirm. I'll generate some stereo testing sources and see what it does with it. I'll create some out of phase stuff as well - although as a good test there is an Alicia Keys track with a complete out of phase Rhodes piano part that disappears in mono, so i'll report back with what it does on that.

Neat! Please do report

 

[ErikGrim]

Those not true though, as @Ploki mentions above - there's only one woofer - so it's not going to accurate recreate anything under whatever the lowest frequency of the tweeter is.

As an audio engineer this is a completely absurd argument. Panning bass frequencies never happens. Bass and sub-bass is something you want to feel, not something you want to spatially place. It is always centred for maximum impact - in music and FX.

 

[vipergts2207]

As an audio engineer this is a completely absurd argument. Panning bass frequencies never happens. Bass and sub-bass is something you want to feel, not something you want to spatially place. It is always centred for maximum impact - in music and FX.

Why do you think the woofer is only going to be playing bass (sub-bass isn’t going to happen)? The woofer’s crossover is likely around 2100-2400Hz, which is well above bass and heading into the upper mid-range frequencies.

 

[sidewinder3000]

Well there was a whole 70-80s movement of hifi and boombox era where you predominantly you were only able to buy stereo sets. Apple kinda drives the industry and are one of the largest music distributors on the planet. If they release a device that's intended to be mono, it sends a message (just like HP jack).

Faking stereo is just like the "surround" sound bars which use reflection to simulate rear speakers. Neat, but not close to a real thing.
Also, trying to mixdown a surround mix to "stereo" just by summing never works well. Stereo > Mono works mildly better, but its still problematic.




Unfortunately I don't see how this can be true. i.e. You have stereo information that delves into negative phase correlation, and its below a certain frequency point (7tweeters will only drive what, 2khz and up at most?). Everything below has to either be Summed to a single channel (for that one mid/woofer on top) or have one channel discarded.
If you have negative correlation stereo field (which sometimes happens with very wide masters), the summing will in effect make said stereo information *less loud*. ( a similar technique is used when extracting vocals from full mixes)




This is interesting and a good idea tbh - and in my opinion would be a real leap in tech in how music is distributed and perceived.
Music industry is a though nut to crack tho, and the question is how to (and who) can create a monitoring environment to create such standards.

I hear what you’re saying. But I think what Apple is trying to do here is to go beyond the limited attempts in the past that tried to create fake surround with “simulated rear speakers” via static speakers and some software that messes with EQ and added echo/reverb. I think what they are doing here is a true merging of hardware, software, and silicon to create a dynamic music machine with a brain, eyes (echolocation) and a voice. Something that can actively work with the environment to physically scan/read the objects/walls in the room, interpret what that means, and then project the sound where it’s best needed to create a wide, full soundscape.

Just because people have tried and failed to create virtual, room-filling stereo effects from a single source in the past is not an insurmountable obstacle to a company like Apple, whose reputation for taking broken, confusing, complicated and expensive technological footnotes and transforming them into massive, culturally transforming products is legendary.

 

[prasand]

Those not true though, as @Ploki mentions above - there's only one woofer - so it's not going to accurate recreate anything under whatever the lowest frequency of the tweeter is.

Ah, indeed @ one woofer. I overlooked that obvious thing.

— edit —

In hindsight, all of the 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 channel systems i’ve used only have one speaker in the subwoofer. That .1 doesn’t invalidate stereo. Technically the HomePod has enough speakers to do 7.1 sound (which I think is highly unlikely that it does, but it’s possible that it can).